Attachment for electric generators.



No. 724,144. PATENTE'D MAR. 31, 1903.

E. A. TERPBNING.

ATTACHMENT FOR ELECTRIC GENERATORS; A PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP m. 111111 3.

I 0 M 0 D E L V I 2 S H E E T 8 B H E E T 1.

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I E. A. TERPENING. ATTACHMENT FOR ELECTRIC GENERATORS. I

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 10, 1903- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HO-MODEL.

UNITED STATES" PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER A. TERPENING, OF GENESEO, ILLINOIS.

ATTACHMENT FOR ELECTRIC GENERATOR S.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 724,144, dated. March 31, 1903. Application iiled January 10, 1903. Serial No. 138,481. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELMER A. TERPENING, of Geneseo, in the county of Henry and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Electrio Generators; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to attachments for electric generators.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a commutator attachment adapted for association with an alternating-current generator to enable the same to be used for the supply of pulsating direct current of either polarity and capable of a'wide range of adjustment to enable said attachment to be successfully used with generators of various dimensions and types of construction.

In the present application I have illustrated and will hereinafter describe my invention as applied to attachments adapted to be used upon small generators-such, for instance, as the magneto-generators employed in telephone service; butit will be apparent and it is intended to be understood that my invention is not limited in its useful applications to the particular form of generator chosen by Way of illustration.

In some fields of electrical work-such, for example, as in the practice of telephonyit is desirable that the generators employed should be capable of transmitting to the line supplied with current thereby either pulsating direct current of a given polarity or an alternating current. In many instances where theprovision of such a generator is desirable alternating-current generators may have alreadybeen installed, and it is with a view to providing an attachment capable of wide application for converting such generators into machines capable of selecting and supplying either direct or alternating currents as one of its objects that my invention is designed.

The drawings illustrate the employment of the device in the multiple are or bridge system. Substantially the same mechanism, with suitable changes of wiring, may be used when the devices are included with the older or series system, so well known as to need no further mention.

With a view to accomplishing these and other objects, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description, my invention consists in the features of construction of my improved attachment and its arrangement in conjunction with its associated devices, whereby it is enabled to perform its functions, as hereinafter more fully described, and specified in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of a magneto-generator of the well known automatic shunt type equipped with my attachment. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of my attachment detached, showing in dotted lines an alternative position of the adjustable attaching clamps. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 3. Figs. 6 and 7 indicate, respectively, side and front views of one of the removable frame-pieces detached. Figs; 8 and 9 are similar views of one of the attaching members detached. Fig. 10 illustrates diagrammatically the connections of my attachment with a cooperating switch device and the line to which current is to be supplied.

Throughout the drawings like numerals of reference refer to like parts.

Referring now to the drawings, 11 indicates the horseshoe permanent magnets of the magneto-generator, and12 the pole-pieces thereof.

13 indicates the armature or inductor shaft, provided at'one end with a small pinion 14, meshing with the large driving-gear 15, and at its other end provided with an insulated pin 16, arranged in constant contact with a collector-brush 17. An inductor or armature coil 18 (illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 10 simply as a wire) is connected at one end to the shaft 13 and at its opposite end to the insulated pin 16 in a manner well known'in the art.

19 is an actuating-handle mounted upon the longitudinally-movable shaft 20, which serves to impart motion to the driving gearwheel 15. The shaft 20-is' adapted when the handle 19 is being rotated in a forward direction to move longitudinally, so that its end 21 makes contact with a spring 22 in a manner well known in the art and not necessary here to describe.

The parts thus far described constitute a well-known type of magneto-generator commonly employed in telephone-circuits.

My commutator attachment, as illustrated, comprises a frame composed of a relatively elongated rod 23,upon which are mounted at right angles thereto two side framepieces 24, adapted to afford bearings for a relatively elongated commutatorshaft 25, disposed in parallelism to the shaft 23. The side pieces 24 are preferably arranged to be adjustably secured in any position of longitudinal or rotary adjustment upon the rod 23, and to this end they are perforated for the reception of the rod, and their extremities are split beyond the perforation, as indicated at 26, the divided portions of the frame-pieces beingconnected byaclampingbolt orscrew 27.

28 28 indicate the attaching members, each of which is adapted to be secured to the rod 23 by means similar to that just described, the slots in said pieces 28 being indicated by the numeral 29, and the clamping-bolts by the numeral 30. Each of said attaching-pieces 28 is provided with a shoulder 31 and a suitably-arranged opposingclamping-screw 32.

33 indicates the commutator proper, comprising a metallic sleeve of suitable length adjustably mounted on the shaft intermediate the side pieces 24 of the frame to properly space the latter apart. The sleeve is held in adjusted position on the shaft by a set-screw 34.

35 indicates a strip of insulating material set into the sleeve 33, flush with the face thereof, and covering substantially half of the circumferential surface of the sleeve.

36 indicates a block of fiber or other insulating material mounted for longitudinal and rotary movement on the rod 23 and secured to one of the side pieces 24 of the frame, as by a screw 37. The block 36 is preferably shorter than the commutator-sleeve 33, so that one of the attaching-pieces 28 may be set inside the side piece 24 when it is desired to bring the attaching mem bers close together.

39 and 40 indicate two metallic brushes fixed to the insulating-block 36 and bearing upon opposite sides of the com mutator-sleeve in the path traversed by the insulated portion 35 thereof during the revolution of the commutator.

41 and 42 indicate the terminals of the brushes 39 and 40, respectively, adapted to receive suitable conducting-wires.

43 indicates a commutator-driving pinion fixedly secured upon one extremity of the shaft 25 and adapted to mesh with the drivinggear 15 of the generator. Said pinion 43 should be provided with teeth equal in number to the teeth of the pinion 14 upon the armature-shaft, so that the pinion 43, its shaft 25, and the commutator carried thereby may operate synchronously with the armature or inductor of the generator.

Numerous advantages incident to the construction of the attachment described will be apparent. The longitudinal and rotary adjustability of the side pieces 24 and the attaching-pieces 28 relative to the shaft 23, to-

gether with the longitudinal adjustability of the shaft 25 relative to its commutator-sleeve, make it possible to apply the attachment to almost any generator on the market and enable it to be set at any angle or upon either side of the driving-Wheel. The only requirements necessary for its adaptation to any particular make or type of generator Within the limits of its adjustability is that the pinion 43 shall correspond in its number of teeth with the armature-pinion 14 for the purpose set forth.

In Fig. 10 I have illustrated diagrammatically the connections of my attachment, whereby it is placed in operative association with a line. Referring now to said figure, 44 indicates a line and 45 a return-wire of an electric circuit. 46 indicates, as a Whole, a three-point switch provided with four wire terminals 47, 48, 49, and and a tilting contact-bar 51. 52 and 53 indicate push-buttons adapted to depress the opposite ends of the contact-bar 51. 54 54 indicate springs for normally holding the contact-bar in contact with the terminal 47 and the push-buttons 52 and 53. The springs 54 are in electrical connection with the contact 49 through a suitable metallic supporting-plate 55. As illustrated, each of the terminals heretofore mentioned has in connection therewith an interiorly-disposed contact-piece, with which the bar 51 may be made to contact. It will be noted that when the push-button 53 is depressed contactis broken between the terminal 47 and the bar and made between the terminal 50 and said bar. Movement of the button 52, on the other hand, makes contact between the bar 51 and the terminal 48, while breaking the contact between terminal 47 and said bar. In any position of the contact-bar 51 connection with the terminal 49 through the springs 54 and plate 55 remains unbroken. The connections between the generator, attachment, switch, and line are shown as follows: 56 indicates a wire connecting the contact 49 with the line-wire 44. 57 indicates a connection between the return line-wire 45 and brush 17 of the generator. The brush 22 of the generator is connected by wire 58 with the terminal 47 of the switch. Wires 59 and 60 connect the commutatorbrushes 39 and 40, respectively, with the terminals 48 and 50 of the switch. It is to be understood that one of the line-wires shown- 44 or 45-may be dispensed with, in which case the remaining wireeither 44 or 57, as the case may beis grounded at each station, as shown by the dotted lines.

The operation of my attachment when arranged as illustrated in Fig. 10 will be as follows: When the magneto-generator is operated, alt-ernatingimpulses generated thereby in the inductor or coil 18 will flow through the gearing and shaft 20 to the brush 22, thence by wire 58 to terminal 47, through the contact-bar 51, springs 54, plate 55, and terminal 49 to wire 56, and thence to line, re-

turning by wires 45 and 57 to the brush 17, insulating-pin 16, and to the inductor or coil 18 again. If now one of the push-buttons say' 52be depressed, so establishing connection between terminals 48 and 49 and breaking the connection of terminals 47 and 49, the

' current will take a path as follows: from the inductor 18 through the gearing and other metal surfaces in contact including the polepieces 12 12, magnets 11 11, attaching members 28 28, rod 23, side pieces 24 24 to shaft 25, and the commutator 33, the brush 39, wire 59 to terminal 48, thence to terminal 49 and through wire 56 to line 44, returning by wires 45 and 5'7, brush 17, and pin 16, as before. The commutator being so arranged that its metallic portion contacts with brushes 39 only during that portion of a revolution of the inductor or coil during which current of a given direction or polarity is generated receives only impulses of such direction or polarity, and thus pulsations of one polarity only are transmitted to the line. When the button 53 is depressed, the brush 40 .is thrown into circuit and impulses of the opposite direction or polarity only will be transmitted to the line, as will be well understood by those skilled in the art.

While I have herein described in detail for purposes of a full disclosure an operative embodiment of my invention, it will be ap-' parent to those skilled in the art that numerous changes might be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim, therefore, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, 1s

1. In combination, asupporting-frame separable from and adapted for connection to an electric generator, a movable commutator mounted in said frame, and a driving instrumentality associated with said commutator and adapted for operative connection with a moving part of the generator to move the commutator synchronously with the inductor or armature of the generator.

2. In combination with an electric generator having a revolving armature, or inductor, an attachment therefor comprising a frame separable from the generator, a commutator mounted for revolution in said frame, and a driving instrumentality secured to said com-- generators, at supporting-frame including a longitu dinally-extended member,a commutator mounted in said frame, and devices for securing the attachment to a generator adjustably mounted on the extended member.

5. In a commutator attachment for electric generators, a frame comprising a longitudinally-extended member, side pieces secured to said member, a commutator-shaft mounted for rotation in said side pieces, a comm utatorsleeve adjustably mounted upon the commutator-shaft, a pinion mounted on the commutator-shaft, commutator-brushes insulatedly mounted upon the frame, and attaching devices adjustably secured upon the extended frame member.

6. In an attachment for electric generators, a frame including a longitudinal member and side pieces secured thereto, a commutator mounted for rotation between said side pieces,

an insulating-block of less width than the distance between the side pieces mounted in the frame, contact-brushes mounted on said insulating-block and bearing on the commutator, and attaching members 28 each having at one end a clamping device for securing said member to the longitudinal member of the frame, and at its opposite end a clamping device adapted to secure said member to the generator.

7. In a commutator attachment for genera tors, the longitudinally-extended bar 23, side pieces 24, carried by said bar and arranged for longitudinal and rotary adj ustment there on, a commutator-shaft 25 mounted for rota tion in said side pieces 24, a commutatorsleeve 33 adj ustably mounted on said shaft, pinion 43 fixedly secured to said shaft, contact-brushes 39 and 40 insulatedly mounted for contact with the commutator, and attaching members 28 each provided with adjustable attaching-clamps, mounted upon the bar 23 for longitudinal and rotaryadjustment.

8. In combination with a generator adapted to produce alternating impulses having a brush for collecting said impulses, of a commutator attachment for said generator synchronized with the generator-inductor, or armature, and including two brushes for selecting and collecting intermittent impulses of definite and opposite polarity, parallel connections between the several collectingbrushes and three points of a switch, a switch member establishing a normally closed con- ELMER A. TERPENING.

In presence of-- I-IARRY- A. REHERD, MARTIN LUTHER. 

